Etymology and Other Names
The name of the city originated from the Vilnia River. The name of the river derives from the Lithuanian language word vilnis ("a surge") or vilnyti ("to surge"). The city has also been known by many derivate spellings in various languages throughout its history. The most notable non-Lithuanian names for the city include: Polish: Wilno, Belarusian: Вiльнюс, Вiльня, German: Wilna, Latvian: Viļņa, Russian: Вильнюс, Yiddish: ווילנע (Vilne), Czech: Vilno. An older Russian name was Вильна / Вильно (Vilna/Vilno), although Вильнюс (Vilnius) is now used. The names Wilno, Wilna and Vilna have also been used in older English, German, French and Italian language publications when city was part of Poland. The name Vilna is still used in Finnish, Portuguese, Spanish, and Hebrew.
The neighbourhoods of Vilnius have also names in other languages.
Read more about this topic: Vilnius
Famous quotes containing the words etymology and/or names:
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
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—Robert Frost (1874–1963)